


Don't

by CododylWorld



Series: Prompts [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Feelings, Hurt, Manipulation, Sad, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:40:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CododylWorld/pseuds/CododylWorld
Summary: Theo has scars and a dark past and Liam tries to help but realizes he isn't.





	Don't

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt:
> 
> "When Person A touches gently touches person B's scars
> 
> When person b is accustomed to violence that they don't know how to react to gentle touch."
> 
> Prompted by Callum

Liam had a tough day at school and all he needed was a long bath and to drop down in his bed and watch a few movies or play video games with Theo for a bit. Talking about the boy, where was he? Usually, when Liam got here he would be waiting by the door with some sort of snack he’d made that day. But he wasn't there. 

“Theo?” he called out and was met with silence. He knew he was here, his truck had been parked outside. 

He dropped his backpack onto the floor and took his shoes off, he slowly made his way upstairs trying to pinpoint a heartbeat and once he did he felt relieved. Theo was here and he had worried for nothing. 

He ran upstairs and knocked on Theo’s door, which opened slightly. He shrugged, opened it all the way and walked in. Theo was listening to… Ariana Grande? That's weird, Liam thought to himself. He thought Theo would like something more classical but oh well, to each their own.

He walked forward and placed his hand on Theo’s thigh. Which prompted Theo to physically flinch and crawl away from Liam. The scent of anxiety and fear knocking Liam back a few steps.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you,” Liam said and Theo looked down at his feet not wanting to meet the others eye. Something in Theo changed and Liam couldn't actually tell what it was, so he tried to ignore and just ask what happened, 

“What's wrong Theo?” He grabbed Theo’s chin and lifted his face so that Theo could meet his eyes. He started to cry and Liam tried to wrap his arms around him but the boy flinched and took a step back. Liam dropped his hands and put a few feet between him and the boy. This was new, Theo never backed down from a hug. He never flinched when he was touched, he just let it be. Or was he just faking it? Was he just acting normal when in reality he didn't like it? But it could also be that when he's touched, he was conscious and aware of his surroundings but not this time.

Come to think of it, Theo had been a bit jumpy after the first week. And that was every time someone placed a hand on him or got too close to him. Liam just thought it was because he wasn't used to it Liam should have realized that there was something going on the moment Theo had started showing the signs but he just chalked it up to Theo being Theo and now it was biting him in the ass.

“Theo,” he pleaded, “please talk to me. Just let yourself talk.”. He said while he sat at the edge of the bed.

Theo sucked in a breath, looked down and stood up. This was something that nobody knew, it was personal. And for the longest time, he had ignored it. He had been so used to using his body to get what he wanted that he never really thought about it. But now he was here and he wasn't trying to use himself for power. Now all the monsters that he had slowly pushed to the back of his mind were starting to show up and to slowly start tearing him apart. Little did he know that one of those monsters would be the insecurity with his body. 

It had started a week after he had moved into the Geyer household. He was happy for the first time in months. David, Jenna, and Liam had all been welcoming towards him and it made him all fuzzy inside but he soon realized that the family was big on touching. It might have been fine at first, cause it was just a pad on his shoulder, Liam grabbing his wrist to yank him somewhere or Jenna placing a hand on his back. He was fine with that. But then Jenna would ask for a hug and he had to get close enough to actually give her one. Liam started being more touchy with him and after a while, he started to feel it. The insecurity creeping up from within. 

He didn't know why they did it. The hugs? The encouraging shoulder tap? The pad on the back? He didn't know what it meant. He didn't deserve to be touched with...kindness? Was that it? No, it couldn't be it. He didn't deserve kindness. His body was only good for two things and two things only: to be tortured and to be used. 

“Theo?” Liam asked after a few minutes and Theo had just stood there with his hands on his belt buckle.

“I don't like it when I'm touched. I don't understand why you're doing it. Hugs? I-” he stopped and took a shaky breath. He looked hurt. Like he was in physical pain and it made Liam want to reach out but that would go against everything he had said.

“I don't like hugs. I don't like it when David touches my back. Or when Jenna places her hand on my shoulder. I don't understand what you're doing.” He says and looks at Liam. A question that Liam can't answer. He doesn't know what Theo means by all this, he's just confused by everything.

“My body has been good for only things: to be tortured and to be used.” 

“What?!” Liam jumps from the bed, anger pouring from him. Not at Theo, no, never at Theo. But to the people that made Theo believe that bullcrap. 

“Theo what are you talking about?!” He growls and for the third time that day, Theo flinches and that’s when Liam realizes it. He's known for a while now that this Theo is a completely different person from the one that came to Beacon Hills. But he never knew how different he was. Theo was still his usual sarcastic self and would make fun of Liam on every occasion he could get. But the Theo that had come here power hungry would never flinch because someone took a step further. Because someone spoke in a higher tone than usual. The manipulative Theo would never show fear like this Theo had done for the past few weeks. And it killed Liam to think that he and his family were the cause of it. 

He took a step back and looked at Theo, encouraging him to continue. Theo nodded slightly and opened the button of his jeans, he worked the zipper down and let his pants fall down to his ankles. 

He took a deep breath at the sight before him. Theo’s right leg was covered in knife scars from the thigh all the way down to the ankle. And his left thigh had burned marks covering the upper part of his thighs that kept going up until the border of his boxer briefs hid them. 

“Who-”Liam's voice broke and tears started falling down his face as Theo pulled his pants up, “who did this?” Liam asked between sobs. Theo dropped down and took a deep breath, Liam followed him but sat on the edge of the bed instead. 

“The scars on my right leg were made by the dread doctors.” He stopped and took a deep breath before continuing, “a reminder of-” more tears fell down his face at the thought. Liam waited for him to continue but after a few seconds of silence he spoke up,

“Theo, if you need to stop then it’s ok. Don't worry, I can just quietly tell mom and dad to stop touching-”

“No!” he yelled, “I don't want anyone else knowing that I'm a freak.” he gasped, looking at Liam pleadingly. 

Liam knelt and tried to reach out but held back not wanting to make the chimera uncomfortable. He looks through teary eyes and spoke,

“I- I don't think you're a freak, Theo.” He said softly and looked down at his hands, “no one does, ok?” Theo nodded slowly and licked his lips before continuing. 

“At first I-” he took a deep breath and remembered back to the first time he killed someone. The first time that the dread doctors manipulated him into doing a horrible thing. He can remember fighting it, he can remember trying to save her. He remembers how he went down into the lake to save her and that had cost him everything. 

“I fought it. I did. Please, I want you to know that.” He looked Liam in the eyes, tears streaming down his face. 

“I know Theo. I know ok?” He whispered back, Theo looked down and nodded. If Liam knew, if Liam understood that then it didn't matter if everyone else hated him. It didn't matter if to everyone else he was still a monster. 

If Liam understood that part then everything else was just a matter of saying it. Of spilling every memory that he had suppressed.

“I didn't want to hurt her, I didn't want to hurt anyone.” He said and Liam had to suck a deep breath when he thought of Theo’s sister and all of those he had killed. He thought of lives that were taken to early. And Liam and everyone else from the pack had blamed Theo for it, they never even questioned it and here was the boy admitting to him that he never wanted to hurt them. And it broke Liam’s heart to ever think that Theo was behind everything. That it wasn't someone else pulling the strings. 

“I'm so sorry Theo.” Liam cries. It might not be much but he needs him to know. He needs Theo to know that he forgives him for everything.

“Don't be Liam. Please, I need this.” He says and Liam nods. Theo wants this, no, he needs to speak his truth. He needs to get everything off of his chest and Liam is glad that he's the one listening.

“When I woke up I was being opened up by them. Tara was next to me, her chest split opened and all I could do was watch. All I did was watch until I couldn't anymore. I fell unconscious and when I woke, I was back in my room. And I should've known that it wasn't a dream, I knew that it wasn't a dream cause I could feel the beating of my her heart inside me. But I cast it off as a nightmare and ran to my parent's room cause I knew Tara would be there and they would be there. And I just wanted them to hug me. To tell me it was a horrible dream. But when I opened the door I-” he stopped and looked down at his hands. He wanted to cry but his eyes were dry. He didn't feel sad anymore. He didn't feel anger. He just felt numb. He felt broken. He looked at Liam and saw that the boy hadn't stopped crying and for a second he thought of stopping, but he couldn't. If he stopped now then he would just get worse and worse. So he swallowed hard and kept on,

“I saw my parents with their chest opened, their hearts carved out. The doctors standing over their corpses. The surgeon turned to me and said that ‘this is what happens when you disobey orders, for every time you don't do what we tell you we will kill two additional humans.’ After that, I was brought to the lab and that's when I got my first three scars.” He said and pointed to his upper thigh, “A reminder. That's what the scars are. A reminder of my disobedience. A reminder of all the deaths I've caused.” 

“No, you didn't cause those deaths,” Liam said between sobs. He wanted to yell it. He wanted Theo to know that he wasn't at fault but he knew that any sudden sound or movement would cause the boy to retreat.

“Just know that Theo. It wasn't yo-”

“But it was! If I did what they told me to do without a question, then they wouldn't have died. It's my fault fifty four people died when it could have been less.” 

Every bone in Liam’s body told him to lunch forward and wrap his hands around the older boy. But he knew better, so instead, he opted to slowly place his hands on Theo’s. 

“Is this Ok Theo? I know you said you didn't like to be touched-” he said while he touched Theo’s finger that rested right next to his body. The reaction he got from Theo made his entire world shake. The boy had completely frozen, his eyes dilated and he had dropped his guard completely and that's when it hit him.

Theo was so used to the idea of using his body to get what the dread doctors wanted from him. He was so used to selling his body, that he became totally submissive to that person. Theo probably started to feel self-conscious about his body but when he realized that he needed it to get what they wanted then he had no choice but to suck it up and use his body.

And now that the dread doctors weren't here ordering him around and he didn't have to use his body in whatever way he had to. All the hate that he felt about his body came crawling back. He was back to the default ‘setting’ and that was to jump away from a gentle and caring touch but instead of replacing the submitting part, his brain had apparently merged them both- Oh my god Theo has been submitting this entire time. Liam thought to himself and took his hand back, which confirmed all of Liam’s thought. 

“Did I do something wrong?” 

“No! No, you haven't done anything wrong, Theo.” He said and smiled softly, while he thought of all the times Theo had been helpful, all those times David or Jenna had asked him something and he had done so without question. When they ask him something about his childhood and he had answered without a fault. And they all had one thing in common: Theo had answered them after David or Jenna had touched him or had hugged him. 

And if that made Liam’s heartbreak then the thought of him being the reason for Theo’s submission practically made him feel like his heart was going to explode.

Theo had told him about the scars because Liam had touched and asked him about it. He started the conversation and it might had seen like Theo actually wanted to talk about it afterward but it wasn't him who started it. In a way Liam had manipulated Theo once more.


End file.
